What are the signs of loneliness in children and what should you do if your child is lonely?

Some children enjoy spending time on their own, but what do you do when your child is lonely and is unable to connect with their peers?

There’s a difference between loneliness and being alone.

It can be hard to determine if your child or teen is lonely. Defining what ‘lonely’ means is an important first step.

“There’s a difference between loneliness and being alone. You can be really content and happy in your aloneness, but you could be in Croke Park with 80,000 people and be lonely,” says Linda Breathnach, counsellor and psychotherapist accredited with the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (www.iacp.ie/).